


when it blooms

by awaikioku



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Astraphobia, Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, at least I'm going to try, attempted imagery, emphasis on the attemped, not so serious tho, san is a fairy in yunho's eyes, soft, tons of fluff, yunho is oblivious, yunho is whipped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28667286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awaikioku/pseuds/awaikioku
Summary: Jeong Yunho doesn’t believe in love at first sight—for he lives with the simple rule; believe in what you see.That is, until he meets Choi San, who seems to bloom in gold, pink and pearl, who resembles a fairy which is supposedly a creation of mere fantasy, only that he doesn’t have shimmering wings and a golden wand. But he wears a moss green apron, which probably is valid enough (because don’t all fairies wear green?).Maybe, fairies are real. Maybe, love happens at first sight.Or: Yunho learns that thunders are excuses to cuddle with San.
Relationships: Choi San/Jeong Yunho
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here goes a yunsan fluff, the most underrated ship imo  
> My motivation for this fic was that I wanted something where there were no bad guys or crisis, and something that would be soothing, calming and warm to read. Because not every parent needs to be toxic or not every ex needs to be a dick, and not everyone holds a trauma, you know?  
> So there won’t be big plots or twists, and although that may not keep the readers up their toes, I hope you can find the fic comforting.  
> I hope to incorporate lots and lots of fluff...I hope.

Jeong Yunho doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Not when his parents divorced right after he blessed them with his existence—or maybe it was a curse. They fell in love the moment they met, married almost immediately after having found out about pregnancy, but those ten months of nurturing Yunho in her belly must have gone wrong. 

Not when his high school friends gawked at people’s looks, dated (or hooked up, if Yunho were to describe honestly) and broke up because they were only, well, _looks._

 _It’s not love but a momentary hallucination_ , his mother had said. It’s like a drug effect, and the moment they are gone, you see the reality—only she was glad that they weren’t addictive.

Yunho isn’t being emotional or being a depressed teenager or anything, it was just a plain fact—for he lives with the simple rule; believe in what you see.

He supposes love exists—he isn’t entirely sure though, because he has _seen_ a few here and there and plenty on the media (of which you shouldn’t trust) but doesn’t think he has exactly _experienced_ it—nonetheless, one shouldn’t be considered with a mere sight.

But perhaps this isn’t the case for dogs.

“Pepper, behave!”

Yunho pulls the leash that tugs the black fuzzy dog back, who is this close to launching at a passing maltese. Not because he wants to prove his dominance, but because he wants to mate—and this probably shouldn’t be called love but desire.

“I’m sorry,” Yunho apologises to the owner of the white well-groomed pet dog, who replied with a bow as she walks past.

He squats down to the dog who is still looking at his gone love longingly.

“You sure have high standards, don’t you, Pepper?”

He ruffles the dog, messing up his hair that wasn’t well put to begin with—not anywhere close to that posh maltese. He coos in his hands, squints his eyes as if to say he loves the cradling, which makes Yunho squint his in reflex. Pepper is a handful, but it is a moment like this that Yunho can’t help but love him.

He hears a familiar ping. He stands up, fishing a phone out of his back pocket, as he spots a familiar name on his screen.

_**The Hong** _

_In need of caffeine_

_**Yunho** _

_And?_

_**The Hong** _

_Get me an americano at Yeo’s_

Yunho chuckles at the unreserved remark of his senior. It is _the shower day,_ and he knows how tumultuous that always gets. He types away ‘roger, sir’ before he tucks his phone. 

“Time to head home, pepper,” he prompts and glances down to his feet where he hopes to find the frizzy dog but he doesn’t. He trails on the leash quickly and finds the dog in the middle of taking his wizz _in front of a shop._

“ _Shit,_ pepper!” A glance away, and he causes another trouble.

Yunho tugs the leash, but alas, the deed has been done. He’s only glad that the shop was closed—and it probably has been that way for a while. He notices a paper stuck on the glass door announcing a flower shop opening soon.

 _A flower shop?_ Yunho wonders.

There hadn't been a flower shop in this area, and maybe that accounts for a no rivalry safe area for running a unique business, but that could also mean perhaps there isn't a demand, and hence so.

Not that Yunho knows anything about running a business, so he doesn't pay any more mind and leads the dog to the cafe. This time, tugging the leash closer and watching him carefully because he had caused enough for the day.

“A flower shop?”

Yeosang asks, swirling another round of caramel syrup just how Yunho likes it.

“Yeah, have you heard?” Yunho leans on the counter, getting closer to the waft of caramelised sweetness. Seeing the barista shrug in reply, he continues. “I wonder if such business works here.”

“I mean, this boring town could get fancier,” Yeosang mutters, putting a lid on Yunho’s caramel macchiato.

The cafe is a ten minute walk from Yunho’s workplace; a place Yunho and Hongjoong frequents, settling on their favourites—caramel macchiato and americano. It is cozy, with a wooden touch, assumingly trying to exude the homey feeling which Yunho would say it is quite successful on. That is probably why the place is never deserted, but never too packed (Yunho is thankful), although he has noticed that the ratio of the customers lean more on the female side. It’s because of Yeosang, Yunho thinks. It isn’t a hard guess when you can clearly see how female customers’ chatters ring on a high note glancing at the handsome barista. But Yunho knows that this cafe doesn’t only offer pretty faces. It has good coffee, and that’s what counts as a cafe. At least, he isn’t a regular to admire Yeosang’s face, although he appreciates his existence as a friend, no doubt.

It is late afternoon and Yunho confirms his study seeing the ratio of genders, seven to three filling the cafe pleasantly. The place isn’t huge, enough to accommodate twenty people at most. The wooden furniture gives a warm earthy feeling that makes people visiting forget their time. 

Yunho glances over at the familiar place, and points out. “This place can help with a plant or flowers.”

Just as Yeosang offers Yunho’s cup of caramel macchiato on the counter, another voice shoots out. “What’s the purpose of flowers when I’m here?”

A cup of americano joins the caramel macchiato, and Yunho looks up at Wooyoung grinning smugly. Yeosang rolls his eyes unsparingly.

“I’d rather flowers that can keep their mouth shut.”

“Hey, you’d be bored if I were silent!” Wooyoung protests in a pout, and Yunho laughs lightly.

Light, that's what the cafe makes him feel. With an earthy feeling surrounding, a good caramel macchiato, a terrace that lets dogs around (where Pepper was tied on a nearby tree, not so loosely because God knows what damage he can cause with a small freedom he gets), two familiar friends, and good-looks are just a cherry on top.

Although the town may not offer much, Yunho likes this place; good coffee, good friends, good working place, good coworker, perhaps not so good but lovable dogs. Arguably, Yunho grew up here and only knows this place, but that’s what home is.

As soon as he spots the smoky blue building, Yunho almost smells the beastly scent that he's used to. Entering, he hears the unceasing barking he has long accustomed to hear as his background music he encounters on a daily basis. Pepper sings along, because he knows he's home. A dog shelter, but still his home.

“What took you goddamn long?”

Is the first human sound Yunho hears. He sees a man shorter by a head, his hair almost resembling the building wall, only his is a flash brighter. 

"Sorry hyung, Pepper was being himself," Yunho makes an excuse only to find the man scoffing.

“I’m just trying to convince myself that you weren’t purposely buying time to avoid the washing.”

"I got you a coffee though. Spare me," he pleads, handing the slightly cold coffee, an inevitable destiny of a take out coffee.

He huffs, silently accepting his ordered americano. Hongjoong, Yunho's senior and a coworker isn't as grumpy as this, usually. But he can’t blame him, because he knows what trying to cleanse the herd of disturbed dogs is like; barks, escapes, scratches, occasional bites, spray of water and soap flying around, and it's more of wrestling than taking care of animals, _that_ , with sixteen dogs. Water is the dog's worst enemy. 

The interior of the shelter was dusky blue too, fitting in just enough numbers of cages to cater the restless residents. It's nothing fancy, but it's peaceful. It doesn't scream the mess Hongjoong was going through, but of course, the battlefield was out in the garden. 

On the counter lies Hongjoong's favourite CDs (the motown stuff) that is another sound that resonates in this building, with the unique touch of dog barks, which Yunho wonders if it's successful or not. More importantly, there are cashiers and files that have some papers peeping out, giving out the unmistakable feeling of work. 

_The usual,_ Yunho thinks.

He then tries to picture a bouquet of flowers placed at the side of the counter. _Unusual._ He doubts they even had a vase, and dismisses the idea quickly, before Hongjoong pesters him to tackle the rest of the unruly armies.

❀

There are several routes Yunho and Hongjoong take walking a dog. More so Yunho, because he'd rather be running outside sweating than glaring at stupid paperworks that gives him headache; the right person for the right position, not that Hongjoong’s frowns are any less shallow where Yunho bets he more often than not considers tearing the paper in pieces. So it takes him another week to go back to the flower shop. 

Everything looks usual; quiet residential area, fine weather, except there is no posh Maltese walking down the street, who Pepper must have forgotten about. Yunho draws a conclusion that, again, love at first sight does not exist.

The unusual part in the usual setting happens when Yunho comes across a colourful shop in a rather greyish compound. However, it's not flashy but pleasing to the eyes with natural-born colours of flowers, and it's as if all the sunlight has decided to gather at that one place.

Yunho mindlessly approaches, but Pepper seems to be way more excited with something new he sees, darting towards the shop, pulling Yunho along the way.

"Hey buddy!" 

Yunho hears an unfamiliar voice greeting Pepper, crouching down to ruffle the enthusiastic dog, clearly from the way he is wagging his tail. 

Then he _sees._

Yunho doesn't believe in those pretty fairies in children's bedtime stories. He doesn't have anything against it, like, seeing children dress up in glittery costumes or talk about fantasies are _cute_ , but it's just _unreal_ , a production of imagination.

But he's almost convinced that maybe, just _maybe_ , they weren't the fantasies created by adults to feed the youngsters because reality was too salty. He almost believes that fairies _do_ exist, and probably those romantics did see something similar to what he was seeing—a surreal beauty blossoming within pastel colours of bouquets. He believes it, almost.

"What's his name?"

The fairy opens his mouth posing him a question, and yes, he's nothing but a solid human with no wings or a glittering golden wand that grants him a wish. His blonde hair that shimmers in sunlight looks pink in some angles which could potentially belong to those picture books, but he still isn’t as fragile with rather broad shoulders, wearing a simple grey sweatshirt and washed out jeans, partially covered with moss green apron that definitely isn’t in the checklist of fairy’s outfit. But it still appears somewhat unreal with how he's adorning a smile that creases his cheek softly with small dents.

Yunho wants to answer, but he feels something hooked in his throat, like a fish bone. He wants to answer the dog’s name, who is wiggling his tails in frenzy, but something else seems to climb up it’s throat, threatening to leave his mouth. He doesn’t know what it is. 

He takes time before he regains his calm and answers, "Uh, Pepper."

"You have a spicy name," he chuckles and brushes his fingers through the messy grey spotted hair, the one loving the treat with how he is squinting his eyes. Yunho knows.

"How old is he?"

"Five or six."

"You're not sure?"

"He is technically under my responsibility, but I don't own him."

Hearing that, the man shifts his eyes to meet Yunho's. Yunho searches in his very vague childhood memory what colour fairy's eyes were, in that spontaneous occasion of his mother choosing to read him a fairytale instead of the usual adventurous tales. He fails, but he thinks the sparkles in the man's eyes within his dark brown orbs shouldn't be too far from them.

Yunho notices a quizzical look amongst those sparkles and he answers. "I work in a dog shelter not so far from here. I found him on a street two years ago and now I take care of him."

The man gives a sad smile, probably from hearing how this happy looking dog used to be thrown on a street, and gives another passionate rubbing on his head. Pepper almost purrs or something close enough for what a dog could be capable of.

"I frequent around the area walking the dogs, and you are definitely new."

The man stands up, drawing his hands away from Pepper, and Yunho can swear he hears him whine. More than being readable, this dog seems too human-like.

"Yes, I just started my business yesterday. And I just moved into town a week ago." He turns to Yunho with a friendly smile and adds, "I'm San, Choi San."

"San, like a mountain?"

The image his name carries is anything but a fantasia, more of a sturdy one that wouldn't budge even in an earthquake. San lets out a light sound that shakes his shoulder lightly.

When he laughs, he’s all the more breathtaking. He’s glowing, and Yunho thinks he can literally grow wings and fly away this instant that’d make him believe in fairies. It’s just surreal how convincing the sight may seem, even if his name defines immobile.

“It’s been a while since I heard that phrase,” he says. “Yes, like a mountain.”

Yunho simply nods, still fascinated, before he realises that he hasn’t introduced himself. “I’m Jeong Yunho, by the way.” He gives the best friendly smile that he usually isn’t so bad at, but he wonders why it’s somehow difficult today.

“Nice to meet you, Yunho.”

San smiles warmly, and he squints his eyes to thin lines. Much like Pepper, Yunho thinks, and he finds difficulty suppressing the urge to pat the man’s head. Highly inappropriate.

Somewhere within his being, Yunho hears a thud, but his mind is too hazy to register anything ambiguous.

He only notices he has something in his hand when Hongjoong points out.

“Where’d you get that flower from?”

Yunho blinks and glances down. In his right hand, he is holding a leash that belonged to Pepper who seems happier than usual, and on his left he was holding a white flower.

“Oh,” Yunho mutters, recalling San handed him one of his flowers as a friendly gift, and he must have told him what the name was, of which Yunho had forgotten. But he can always go ask him, and San will probably be happy to answer.

“And why do you look more restless than usual?” 

Now Yunho glances back up to the tiny blue-haired man, crossing his arms in curiosity, and he blinks at him.

Does he? He sure thinks Pepper looks restless, but is he?

“As the saying goes; like the dog, like the owner maybe,” he shrugs, before he asks the man if this place owned any vase. He needed to keep the flower alive, and from what little knowledge he had, flowers needed water.

He ends up with an empty soda bottle. It’s green, like the stem of the flower, and even though it might not do justice to the fresh flower with huge white petals, when placed on the counter next to the pile of Hongjoong’s collection, Yunho thinks it doesn’t look that bad.

It’s new, it’s different and _unusual_ , but he thinks he can get used to it soon enough.

❀

Yunho takes the flower shop route more often than he used to. There isn’t a reason not to, and Pepper seems to like it, so why not? He doesn’t always drop by the shop though, because he has found out that the shop has Thursdays off, and also he doesn’t want to look like a creep stalking him.

Perhaps San won’t mind, with how he smiles whenever Yunho drops by, keeping in mind several dogs' names that Yunho walks, patting them all alike. 

He is currently squatting down cradling a fluffy ball of energy, namely Cinnamon, and he laughs at how many dogs seem to be named after spice.

“Only the ones that came without a name,” Yunho explains. “Hongjoong has a thing for spices and it’s easy to remember.”

San hums, his eyes still locked to the female dog, who seems to like San as much as Pepper does, so is the case of most dogs in the shelter, and Yunho can’t see why not.

“We have something in common then. Gingerbread latte is a must have during winter.”

“You like coffee? There’s a shop nearby that serves good coffee. Maybe not gingerbread latte now, but probably something to do with spice.”

It is spring, and winter sounds too far ahead. But the cafe probably offers spiced chai or cinnamon latte, or something that does with spice. Yunho only orders caramel macchiato and americano (for Hongjoong) and other menus don’t really matter to him, but he can tell from the vague memory of the lists on the board.

“I haven’t been around actually,” San laments. “I’m new here and I frequent this shop, home, and a grocery store. But I should get to know the place.”

“Why don’t I show you around?” Yunho suggests. “I’ve lived here my entire life, and I know this place like the back of my hand. That cafe is also owned by my friends, they could be annoying but they are nice people.”

“Oh, am I good enough to be introduced to your friends?” San stands up, holding the fluff ball that fits perfectly in his arms.

“Why wouldn’t you be?”

San laughs, seemingly liking the answer. It rings in Yunho’s ears pleasantly.

“I’d love that,” he agrees, which tugs Yunho's lips up.

With the kind of work Yunho does, the kind where life is involved, there isn't really a day off. Only when he gets a substitute, often from Hongjoong's parents who have retired but are nonetheless owners of the shelter. He goes for another option this time though, asking his friend Mingi who he shares an apartment with, to work on Thursday on his behalf. Although Mingi grumbles and complains, which Yunho gets them through a hot chocolate (with a marshmallow for extra effect), he agrees in the end. Mingi has been owing Yunho anyways.

A sudden want of a break from someone who hardly asks for one, does stir Mingi and Hongjoong with a question, though. It’s no secret that Yunho has made a friend from a flower shop when he brings flowers every week, one for the shelter and one for his own apartment’s dining table, a new trait he is growing to have. 

“I’ll be showing him around,” Yunho tells Mingi, filling the vase with tap water in the kitchen, while Mingi is sipping the hot chocolate (effective, with marshmallows!) he prepared for him leaning on the counter.

“You know,” Mingi prompts. “I’d think you have a crush on him with how you cater to him.”

Yunho chuckles. “I’ve only known him for three weeks.”

“And I remember you telling me how beautiful he was, the first time you saw him.”

“That’s just appreciating beauty,” Yunho says, tucking in the fresh flower he’d bought from San.

“Or, love at first sight,” Mingi cocks a grin, and Yunho gives him a judgemental look.

 _There is no such thing,_ Yunho thinks, placing the newly bought vase for his new habit on the dining table. A rounded yellow flower is cutely dancing in the white vase, and this time, Yunho remembers the name; freesia. He also recalls how San explained every flower has its own language, and yellow freesia goes by ‘innocence’.

The idea of sending a message over a flower language is hopelessly romantic, Yunho thinks. But he also thinks he gets it—when the sight of freesia and ‘innocence’ blends in his head with that everlasting glow of smile that never fails to crease dimples.

❀

San is pretty.

Yunho has eyes that function well (thankfully), and he can admit to what he sees. Honesty is the best policy, and one doesn’t have to be in love to admit that, because there is nothing wrong in admiring his friend’s beauty, even if his presence makes him forget to breathe at times. He’s still alive, so it’s all good.

He dazzles with a fresh air when Yunho sees him out of his moss green apron, sweatshirt, washed out jeans but in a white cotton shirt tucked in white jeans, a lavender cardigan to suit the weather, something Yunho isn’t used to seeing San in. Yunho feels ticklish when San smiles sheepishly saying he wants to look presentable to his friends, as if he has to try.

The walk kicks off from the flower shop they're both familiar with, the only unfamiliarities are that the door is shut and the board says 'closed'. 

It was early in the morning before the meetup when Yunho realised he never guided anyone through the area, as he got dressed. He doesn't know what the normal routine was and maybe he was supposed to show some fancy places (there aren't many, really. He thinks the place is comfy but not fancy). But he would turn out to be a tourist in that sense, drifting somewhere out of his water, so he resolves in places he knows _and_ enjoys. 

First place being a park, and he thinks it's fairly big for it’s the best way to take advantage of a remote town that definitely offers more space than the city. Walking by the pond, he talks about how he chased a butterfly once when he was a kid and fell into it, his parents worrying as he was soaked from head to toe. San laughs, saying how he finds it cute, and Yunho wonders what the colour of the butterfly was. Maybe it was yellow, or white, or pink, something sheen and attractive enough to lure him into the pond, but maybe his memory is betraying him and that’s only because he is seeing San’s fluffy hair shimmering under sunlight, looking golden and pink. He wants to touch it, like he wanted a butterfly, but he holds it back.

He guides him to the famous teobbeoki stand (famous in the town, of course) for a light snack. The owner knows Yunho well, and he tells San how he almost ate up the entire food he had prepared (exaggerated, of course). San smiles and responds easily, praising his teobbeoki saying he has never had anything quite like it before. Feeling good with the praise, the owner offers more for San, and San giggles, claiming he might as well finish the entire food just like Yunho.

The next stop was at the small old shop halmeoni runs, offering old korean handy snacks. San’s eyes beams at the snacks he hadn’t seen for a while, and buys a handful, before he sits down and indulges in the talk with halmeoni. Here, she talks about how she saw Yunho grow up to be such a handsome man, but she reveals all the unwanted details that makes Yunho feel embarrassed. San seems entertained though, so maybe that’s all that matters.

“I like this town,” San speaks, enjoying the lollipop he had just bought from halmeoni. They are on the way to the cafe, telling him where to go eat and where not to go, walking side by side, and the afternoon sun falls warmly over them.

“Yeah?”

“Everyone is so warm and welcoming,” he says. “And I got to know how you’re not only a dog’s boy, but also a people’s boy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yunho glances over.

“I knew you were loved by your dogs, it’s obvious,” he says. “But today I saw you were loved by people of the town, and you seem like a nice person.”

“Well, I try to be.”

“You certainly have convinced me so,” San smiles.

If there is one thing Yunho had noticed through his time together with San today, it’s that he smiles and laughs a lot. His eyes crinkle at the sides, his eyes twinkling right before they hide behind the crescents of his eyelids. Two dents form on his cheeks with any hint of smile or laugh, with just a small curve on his lips. Yunho thinks it’s pretty. He _sees_ it, and he can _admit_ it. It has an effect of infusing warmth in his heart, and he notices that maybe he is the same when he can’t help the tugging on his lips in presence of that smile.

“Yunho-yah!”

The next thing Yunho hears after the doorbell ringing is Wooyoung’s cheerful voice. He gives him a wave and a smile, while the other notices a new face behind him.

“Who might this be?”

“He’s San, the florist,” Yunho introduces and San greets with a smile. A dimpled-smile.

Wooyoung looks intrigued, if that gleam in his eyes is any hint at all.

“So you’re the one,” he comments. “Yunho had been telling me about you.”

“Hopefully good stuff?” San gives an anxious face.

“Always good stuff,” Wooyoung cocks a grin. “Might as well think he-”

“Uh, he’s Wooyoung, by the way. My friend,” Yunho interrupts.

Although Wooyoung is his friend, or more like, _because_ he is his friend, Yunho knows very well how he might say something he shouldn’t. It was partly Yunho’s fault for complimenting San in front of him, or talking about San and mostly San these days (he just realised), if he ever wanted to keep Wooyoung quiet. There’s nothing to hide, but Wooyoung may imply something else and he doesn’t want to make things awkward between him and San. He just wants to be a friend. Maybe the closest friend of San in this town, but that’s it.

Wooyoung thankfully gets the hint, and he gets back to his job. “So, what can I get you two?”

“Caramel macchiato for me, and do you have something to do with spice?” Yunho asks.

Wooyoung thinks before he calls his coworker who was making coffee behind. “Hey Yeo, can you make something with spice?”

Yeosang glances to his direction, and wipes his hands on the towel before walking to them.

“If it’s not on your menu, you don’t have to-” San says quickly, probably feeling like he’s troubling them.

“Does cinnamon latte sound good to you?” Yeosang asks with a gentle smile.

San blinks. “Yes, sounds perfect.”

“Hi, I’m Yeosang, Yunho’s other friend,” he greets, offering his hand for a shake which San gladly takes. “My job here is to offer great coffee and clean up the mess Wooyoung creates.”

“I take offense to that,” Wooyoung huffs. “I’m perfectly fit for the job!”

“May I remind you how you almost spilled the coffee on our customer this morning, or how you-”

And there goes their bickering, which is also part of Yeosang’s job, Yunho supposes. He simply shrugs at the usual scene, but he’s glad when he sees San laughing, entertained. 

“You can go grab a seat for us, and I’ll bring them over,” he suggests, and San nods with a smile.

When the drinks were hot and ready, Yunho heads towards San with a tray. He also doesn't forget to order two muffins; a blueberry muffin (basic, but there’s always a reason behind things that become basic—and it’s because it’s good) and an apple pie muffin (confusing, probably, but cinnamon, apples, pie crumbs on top? Definitely a perfect combo) because he knows how good Wooyoung’s bakeries are. He wants San to try them, and surely, apple pie muffin shouldn’t be too far away from what he likes.

The cafe isn’t crowded on Thursday afternoon, but he notices a few tables occupied which compliments Yunho’s statistics. The ratio favouring the women, but today, instead of them admiring the two baristas (one more of a baker), they seem to have found another pretty face in the room—San, who seems to be clueless about the glances he’s getting, staring outside the cafe. Yunho takes a second to admire San’s side profile; his sharp jaws carved by the proficient curves from his forehead to the neck line, his eye in a thin slit that some may feel intimidating, but probably none in the room thinks so. He’s proud, of course, with how others acknowledge San’s looks, but there’s also something unsettling about it.

San seems to enjoy the cinnamon latte. When Yunho handed it to him, he relayed Yeosang’s message that it was unsweetened and he could adjust it to his liking, so Yunho offered sugar sticks. San tried with one, tilted his head, then added the second one, that drew a small smile out of him. _Two sugars,_ Yunho unconsciously notes in his brain.

“How do you like the town?” Yunho initiates.

A dumb question, he thinks. Any decent person wouldn’t say they don’t like the place, knowing the person they are talking to are pure-bred of the town, _also_ having the person guide them through. And Yunho knows San is decent, more than that actually, but Yunho probably simply wanted to hear San compliment his hometown. And he does.

“I like it,” he smiles, dimples full on display.

Although the answer was predetermined, it sounds more genuine and truthful, and maybe it is. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” San beams.

And who is Yunho to doubt?

“I guess the credit goes to me then,” Yunho grins, and San elicits a light chuckle that floats in the afternoon air. It settles there, and it tugs softly on Yunho’s heart.

“So why did you move here?” Yunho asks, and he is sure he made the right choice to choose that apple pie muffin when the man next to him evidently delights at the bite. Wooyoung shall be proud.

Yunho isn’t sure if San’s late response is because he still has muffin in his mouth or because he had asked something personal. He fidgets, thinking maybe he should take back the question.

“Just changing the environment,” San finally answers. A smile. Dimples, faint, but it’s there. But somehow unfamiliar.

“I see,” Yunho doesn’t probe further. He instead resolves in biting his own muffin, downing with his drink. The familiar taste of blueberry and caramel mixes, but Yunho winces at the sugariness that attacks his tongue. Maybe the two aren’t compatible with each other, or maybe Yunho’s taste bud is weird today.

❀

The pouring rain as if God has turned his buckets down, occasional thunders at the far end of the sky, dark thick clouds covering heavens are clear indicators of the arrival of the rainy season. What’s unique in the dog shelter is that there are dogs who like to holler back at thunders, and the usual noisy building gets boisterous.

“It’s a losing game fighting the heavens,” Yunho mutters at the daring dogs. “Don’t you get tired of trying?”

The rainy season makes Yunho gloomy too. Not because of the depressing weather per se, but more because of not being able to jog outside with the dogs (dogs equally affected), which means he’s stuck in the building with no excuse of dodging the paperworks. Depressing weather, stressed dogs and Yunho, but Hongjoong seems to look happier. And maybe that should be enough.

Not being able to go out for a walk also meant not being able to see San. Taking a longer way to grab coffees for him and Hongjoong (because he needs a break from glaring at numbers and letters on paper once in a while even under torrential rain), passing by San’s shop, Yunho notices that he has more days closed than usual. It doesn’t even have to be a Thursday for him to see the door hanging with the ‘closed’ sign.

Yunho grabs his phone and texts San (after a slight contemplation of whether he is being too nosy) to ask if everything is okay. San explains that he gets migraines on rainy days, and he assures Yunho he’s fine. But when he starts seeing that sign more and more, Yunho worries if he is really fine; eating well, drinking well, living well. He is new to the town, and he probably didn’t have anyone that could look after him, and maybe Yunho could help as a friend. Then Yunho guesses he’s probably crossing a line of what a friend of two months could do, and he doesn’t even know his house, so he fends off the idea.

“I saw San the other day,” a voice knocks Yunho out of his train of thoughts.

“When? Where?”

“Yesterday, near my house,” Hongjoong replies, flipping the paper in a file like he’s tired of it, and Yunho can’t blame him.

Yesterday was a Thursday, and San must not have been in the shop anyways. Hongjoong lives in a quiet residential area near a stream that goes by the name of Mangyang street, which is not far from this place, a ten minute ride on a bike.

“Near your house?”

“Yeah, I was passing by and I saw San, probably out of his apartment building considering what he was wearing, hugging someone.”

Oh.

“A guy with red hair.”

_Oh._

“Do you know him?”

Yunho knows that San is a florist, that he likes dogs, that he moved from Seoul, that he is kind and friendly, that he smiles radiantly with two lines of dimples besides his curve, that he likes spice, that he likes two sugars in his cinnamon latte. But that is pretty much all he knows about San, and he realises that he basically doesn’t know the man.

“No.”

“Oh well, they looked kinda close.”

Yeah they would be. Seeing off in front of San’s apartment, bidding farewell by hugging? If it’s not a family figure (since he moved here) or a friend (even Yunho who believes is one of the earliest friends San has got in the town, will be awkward with that intimacy), then who else could it be?

Maybe Yunho needn’t worry about San’s migraine, because he really is fine with someone taking care of him. And that should be a comforting thought, but Yunho feels a bug inside. It is buzzing inside, and it is as unpleasant as dogs howling at thunders.

❀

Even in the worst season, the sun does shine once in a while.

As if the torrential rain yesterday was a daydream, the sun is giving out its best shot because probably, it was sulking being hidden behind those gloomy clouds. But it did rain heavily yesterday, and it shows in the way Yunho sweats in humidity. He doesn’t mind though, it means a good run with dogs he’s finally getting.

It’s not raining and it’s not Thursday, and the equation is valid when Yunho sees San’s shop open.

“Hey,” Yunho greets, the curve up on his lips is only natural seeing San after a few days.

“Hey Yunho and Pepper,” he smiles, kneeling down to give a brush on Pepper’s head. The dog replies with a woof and a wag on his tail that might as well come off with its intensity.

“Are you okay? Does the rain treat you that badly?” Yunho asks.

San blinks before he answers, “Yup I’m fine. Thanks for asking, though!”

San’s shop is always vibrant in colours. All flower shops are decorated beautifully with different shades of colours, Yunho supposes, only because he has never been to another one. It’s quite funny to think a man who has never stepped in a flower shop for his twenty four years of life is now frequenting the place. Amongst the flowers, there are potted plants, big and small, also lively in green. While Yunho enjoys getting flowers every week, he also wants something that won’t wilt away in a week, something that will last longer, something that he can look after, something that will stay.

"If you aren't used to taking care of plants then I'd recommend you Umbellata," San suggests, and Yunho just blinks because he has not a single idea what it is.

“It’s easy to look after and it’s cute,” San smiles. 

Yunho isn’t sure what a cute plant may look like, but if San says so, he agrees. “Sounds good to me.”

San scans through his plants and as though he had remembered something, he mutters, “Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It was delivered to my home by mistake,” he says with a little pout and while Yunho finds it cute, he doesn’t know what to make of the statement so he tilts his head.

“Oh, you have a bicycle, don’t you?”

He does, so he nods.

“Do you mind coming to get it?”

His sudden invite startles Yunho. “To your home?”

San nods, but soon frowns in worry. "Or I can bring it here."

"No, I can come by, totally," Yunho replies in a beat.

They settle with the coming Thursday and San tells him his address. He indeed lives in Mangyang street and Yunho bites his inner cheek at the lower chance that the person Hongjoong saw is a total stranger who only looks like San.

"Hongjoong apparently saw you last week," Yunho tries.

“Oh he did?” San blinks. “He could’ve called out to me.”

“He couldn’t,” Yunho swallows before he says the following words. “He didn’t want to disturb you with your lover.”

Yunho doesn’t know why his heart is beating so fast. This should be a normal conversation. Talking about his friend’s relationship shouldn’t be so awkward, but why is Yunho feeling so nervous? It worsens seeing San frowning.

“Who?”

“Uh, Hongjoong saw you hugging a red haired man?”

San pauses for a while, probably running through his memory, then he laughs. Loudly. It takes him a while to calm down.

“Oh, God, that was a good laugh,” San wipes a tear off the corner of his eyes, a wave of mirth still hanging on his shoulders. “I gotta tell Jongho about this.”

“Jongho?”

“Yeah, the red haired guy. He’s my cousin.”

“Your cousin?”

San hums a yes. “And he hates when the same gender is overly affectionate with him. I take pleasure in teasing him doing exactly that,” he giggles playfully. “Oh, I can’t _wait_ to see when I tell him someone has mistaken us for lovers!”

“You have a cousin here?”

“Yeah, he goes to uni here. I decided to move here from what he told me about this town.”

“Oh, cool,” Yunho says, and he sounds lame. He quickly adds, “I’d like to meet him some day.”

San gives a grin. “You shall. And I will tell him that you were the one who pronounced me and Jongho lovers.”

Jongho’s brief personality that he was informed with and San’s cocky grin tells Yunho something; that doesn’t sound very safe.

“Besides,” San says. “I’m still busy settling myself in this new town. I’ve made _four_ friends, you, Wooyoung, Yeosang and Hongjoong, which is already a huge progress if I may say so, who keeps me busy—so how am I to find a lover in town already?”

“Well, I guess you have a point there.”

“Do you have any candidates?” San turns, and Yunho notices a playful glint in his eyes. 

There’s an instinctual something that wants to roll out of his tongue, but it’s stuck in his throat. _A fish bone._ Again, it seems adamantly stuck there and Yunho doesn’t know what it is or how to take it out. Instead his mind is flashed through with faces San had just mentioned and Mingi, and although they don’t seem to be clinging on his throat, they don’t seem to urge him to mention their names either.

“Uh, I’ll let you know when I find one,” is what slips out of his mouth at last, but he isn’t sure if he even means it.

❀

When Yunho returns to his shared apartment that day, he finds something unusual on the table of the living room; a fairytale. It doesn’t belong to him, so it can only belong to his sharemate Mingi, and Yunho starts to wonder if the friend of his has got someone pregnant, or has grown a strange fetish, and he doesn’t know which sounds worse.

After giving him a judgemental comment (which Mingi finds utterly offending), Yunho gets the truth behind it. That a young girl in the dance class he teaches has lent him (insisted) her favourite book because apparently, everyone needs to learn English in this global generation, dancers likewise, and that Mingi’s English was horrible. That’s when he learns that the picture book is in English, and Yunho can’t laugh it off that the girl finds a children’s book befitting as Mingi’s English textbook, because he’d be the pot calling kettle black.

Rolling on his bed, Yunho looks through the book Mingi has given up on. Yunho isn’t planning to learn English either—those alphabets are just some designs accompanying the illustrations in his eyes, and so is the case for Mingi, he is sure. In the book, he actually finds a fairy dressed in a short green dress holding a golden wand, talking to a girl crying. By the looks of it, the girl is a to-be-princess who ends up happily in the embrace of a prince. _Happily ever after._

Yunho feels like he sees fairies dressed in green most of the time (ref. Tinkerbell), and maybe it’s because they blend in well in the forest for protection of their kind, or maybe it’s just their favourite colour.

But more than that, it strikes him that he has only seen female fairies. To be fair, he hasn’t seen or read many fairy tales with fairies in it, he was more of a let’s-go-on-a-hunt-for-treasures-yo-ho-yo-ho-kind of boy in regards to books, but he still thinks he has a point there. Why can’t a male be a fairy?

The dimly lit room, the familiar hug of his mattress, the gibberish scribble of English, the random thought process lulls him to slumber. In his dream, he sees a figure wearing a moss green robe, flattering crystal wings that looks golden but pinkish under the sunlight just like his hair, in his hand is a star-gathered-wand, but what shines brighter than his wings or a wand is his smile, as if the sun chiseled its way in his body and graced him with the warmest, glowing smile. A male fairy isn’t bad at all. Actually, Yunho thinks he hasn’t seen a fairy as beautiful and unreal like him.

Yunho is tempted to touch, but the thought that he might fly far, far away scares him so he holds back. He just watches, and inhales slowly. He is alive.

❀

The agreed Thursday rolls in with thunders and rain. It isn’t raining heavily, and Yunho could just grab a raincoat and ride a bicycle to San’s place as promised, but he isn’t sure if San wants that. It’s not like he is going to get raw meat that will get spoiled by tomorrow. Plants can probably wait, thinking, it would rather stay with San longer than coming under Yunho’s uncareful hands.

Then again, Yunho feels a loss at change of plan. He thought he was going to see San, and visit San at his home. It’s not an exaggeration to say that promise was what kept him excited the entire week.

_**Yunho** _

_Hey, can I still come over?_

Yunho shoots a text at San, playing with a string of his hoodie, while pacing in the living room. He’s already changed into a pale blue hoodie and blue jeans from his pyjamas just a while ago. All he needs is San to say yes, but he doesn’t reply nor does he see. Then Yunho remembers what rainy days do to him and he quickly grabs his raincoat and takes a step outside.

With mostly houses occupying this small town, rare apartments aren't so hard to locate, and so is San's. Looking up at the building through his raincoat, he locates the third floor with his eyes and reaches the resident once again but receives no reply. Anxiety only grows as he runs up to room 301, but feels helpless in front of it. He can do everything coming up to this point, but he can't do much after facing a wooden door. Maybe Yunho's worrying too much. But he believes San isn't someone who'd just forget the promises he had made or who'd just ignore texts, so he decides to call. 

It takes nine rings to get the person on the phone.

“Yes…?”

San’s voice sounds deep and gravelled, unsure whether it’s because of the device or his wellbeing, but Yunho feels anxious nonetheless.

“Hey, it’s Yunho,” he confirms as it’s the first time calling. “I came to collect my plant?”

Yunho hears a brief mumble before the call ends. It’s not long before he hears a sound behind the door. It flings open, and reveals the person.

San looks ashen, as though he is mimicking a ghost, there’s no hint of the glow that he always carried.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he gives a weak smile, his voice still gravelled. “It kinda slipped my mind.”

“No, uh, I guess I should’ve figured when you didn’t reply,” which of course he did, but he isn’t just going to blurt out that ‘I wanted to make sure you’re okay’. “But um, are you okay?”

“Huh?” San asks, motioning Yunho in the house and Yunho follows. “Oh, yes, I’m fine.”

He doesn’t look fine and he doesn’t sound fine.

San’s house is spacious enough for a single’s residence. He leads Yunho to the living room with a sofa and TV, a few potted plants here and there giving a room an earthy feeling. There’s a kitchen at the corner of the room, and a door on a wall, slightly open in what Yunho can see is a bedroom. Normal apartment room, nothing odd, except that it is very dark in here. It’s still before noon but the curtain is tightly shut, and the light is off; not difficult to move around, but it is nonetheless odd. 

“San-” 

Right when Yunho initiates a conversation, wanting to check up on the blonde again, he is interrupted by a loud noise of thunder. It is louder than normal, and Yunho blinks, thinking it must have landed close by. He blinks again, but he doesn’t see San who was trudging right in front of him. Disappeared. No humans can disappear though, and Yunho soon finds San crouched on the floor, hugging his knees and burying his face, holding his head with his arms tightly.

“San? Are you okay?” Yunho quickly kneels down, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The man flips his head up, and gives a stiff chuckle. “Yeah, I’m fin-” and then another thunder goes off, and he shrieks.

He’s not so quick to register a warmth that jumped in his arms. He feels a tight grip on his waist, and he glances down, seeing blonde hair right beneath his eyes. San is burying his face in Yunho’s chest. He was hugging Yunho. His brain short circuits.

“Shit,” San hisses as he hears another roar, clenching tighter on the taller. 

“San, are you,” Yunho places a hand on San’s back, a little unsure, and he feels the man trembling. “Scared of thunder?”

Silence falls in between them, and San loosens the grip. Yunho struggles not to protest as the warmth pulls away.

“Yes, I am,” San admits as he looks into Yunho’s eyes weakly, and maybe Yunho is imagining, but his eyes look more gliestened than usual. “And I’m so sorry for this embarrassment.”

“It’s not,” Yunho quickly denies.

“Anyway, I think it’s better if you come another time,” San stands up, and Yunho does too.

“Sure, I don’t mind about the plant. But if I can help you in any way,” Yunho prompts, trying to reach out to San’s hand.

“No, I don’t want to trouble you,” he says, trying to lead him back to the front door, before he hears the third strike and falling into his embrace again.

This time Yunho doesn’t take time to wrap his arms around him, brushing the small of his back up and down. He can feel San relax in his arms, his tremble subsiding. The sky is still gloomy and angry, and thunders still seem to be well in action for a while.

“Will you feel better if I stay with you?”

San is quiet for a while, still in his arms, and he finally gives a small nod.

Seated on the sofa in the dark living room, San has his worn but clean blanket hugging him, while he buries his face in Yunho’s chest, his arms securing their place around his body frame, Yunho has his arms draped over San’s smaller figure, stroking his back constantly. They are sitting side by side, but with how they are embracing each other, it would probably feel more comfortable if San was sitting in his laps, but that is far too intimate, so Yunho brushes off the idea. Yunho is more concerned about how San must be hearing his heartbeat—not so fast but nonetheless accelerated than usual. San must not know ‘the usual’, so maybe he doesn’t recognise, Yunho hopes, only he seems comfortable resting his cheek on Yunho’s left chest.

San isn’t a mountain, unlike his name.

A mountain, withstanding storms and calamities would never be scared of thunder, shaking smally in Yunho’s arms.

San isn’t a fairy, unlike his looks.

Yunho affirms as he brushes San’s back, and he doesn’t find a wing there. He is relieved that San seems to be unable to fly away from his reach. For now, at least.

San is very much a human in his hold. Warm and soft, easing in his touch, fitting perfectly in his arms. But maybe he resembles a flower, with how soft, blossoming scent reaches Yunho’s nose. Maybe it’s the shampoo, maybe it’s the laundry detergent, or maybe it’s San himself. Whatever it is, Yunho is sure he wants it close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So did I do well with fluff? I'm never sure of my writings lol  
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Nope, he won’t,” Jongho disagrees with firmness. “He doesn’t like bothering people with his problems, even with me, and the fact that he lets you take care of him must mean that—”
> 
> Jongho trails off, and Yunho looks back at him. He is expecting to see some kind of smugness in his face, but what he sees instead is sincerity and softness.
> 
> “You’re special.”
> 
> Yunho inhales.
> 
> He has never really brewed in mind what San thought of him. Jongho says he’s special. Yunho hopes he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been ages since I updated...!  
> My work has been quite busy lately, and the fact that I'm a super slow writer doesn't help AT ALL.  
> I seriously wonder how other authors write 5k in a day or two?? My respects are thrown at them.

Yunho has been to Seoul once.

The hustling and bustling city of Seoul was and is always the most popular option for a school trip, for schools in a remote town. Yunho still remembers how his mouth formed an ‘o’ when he stepped in the middle of Myeongdong. It was like a hotpot of anything and everything; flashy neon lights and boisterous city sounds, tall buildings and shady alley ways, trendy food stalls and unknown gadgets, and people, people, people. He didn’t doubt that people from each corner of the country as well as each corner of the world had gathered there; youngsters to elderlies, different shades of colours and accents, just so vivacious and vibrant. He still believes to this day that he could probably find anything and everything in Seoul, unlike his rather small town, comfortable and simplistic.

The point is, that although bright-coloured hair blends well in the city of Seoul, it really doesn’t fit in his town. Hongjoong with bright blue hair was already a heresy, and the bright red hair is just as striking.

It really is the first thing that jumps into Yunho’s eyes even before pushing the glass door of the café. The usual café, with an unusual customer.

“Hey, Yunho!” Wooyoung greets as he notices a familiar face coming through the door with a light bell.

“Hey,” he replies, his gaze still lingering on the red-haired male, who seems to have noticed his presence. Their eyes meet, and Yunho quickly avoids, although he still feels him staring at him, rather piercingly.

“Iced americano and iced caramel macchiato, please,” he orders the usual, iced, in accordance with the weather that was getting hotter by day.

“Right away, sir,” Wooyoung says, passing on the order to the other barista while he attends a customer who came to pay. 

Yunho moves towards Yeosang, and leans in the counter, dropping his voice. “Who is he?”

Yeosang trails his eyes at who Yunho was suggesting and shrugs, working on the iced americano. “Don’t know. He’s new.”

Yunho hums, and he doesn’t bother anymore. Yes, bright red hair does stand out in this town, but there is nothing odd about it. So Yunho tucks away the fact that the guy was practically staring at him, and chats with his friends, until he hears an unfamiliar voice behind him which makes him jolt.

“You’re Yunho?”

It’s the red-haired guy. He is standing there with a cup in his hand, of which Yunho assumes is an iced americano.

“Yeah? And how can I help you?”

“So,  _ you’re  _ Yunho,” the young man curves the side of his lips which looks like both a snarl and a grin, Yunho can’t tell, as he glances the man up and down unabashedly.

Wooyoung and Yeosang look at each other, unsure about what to make of the event happening in front of them.

“Do I know you?” Yunho frowns, because the look he is giving isn’t exactly a friendly gesture.

“Maybe? But  _ I  _ know  _ you, _ ” he says challengingly. Just when Yunho tries to inquire further, he drops the name Yunho knows. “Sani hyung told me about you.”

The calculation in his brain is quite quick; ‘San’ and ‘red-haired male’ equals to…

“Jongho?”

The man gives a cocky grin. 

"Yes, the guy you thought was dating Choi San," he says as if that's the most despicable idea. "I like my cousin and I have nothing against gay relationships but the thought of dating Sani hyung? Ew."

To Jongho, it definitely is, and his scrunched up face just adds up to the fact.

"Uh...sorry?" Yunho says, unsure what else to say. 

"If you feel sorry, then you can make it up to me," Jongho suggests.

To be honest, Yunho doesn't think he owes him anything. But the red haired male, who he knows is younger than him from the way he calls San his hyung, built in his figure, with a glint in his eyes is rather intimidating.

"What do you want?" Yunho asks just for the sake of it.

Jongho smiles, and this time it's the one that makes him look younger. "Let me help your shelter."

❀

While humans try their best with their science and whatnot to figure out nature, heavens have their own plans. A sudden rain swept in with music of thunder, ignoring what the weather forecaster said this morning. And like every other thunder day, the flower shop has its closed sign hanging—the only difference is that there’s a faint light behind the shut door and two figures sitting on the floor.

“I hate rainy seasons,” San grumbles into Yunho’s chest. 

“Why are you scared of thunder?” He asks, drawing circles on San’s back, and he seems to ease at the touch.

“No particular reason. I just grew astraphobic.”

The rain today was unannounced, and Yunho had guessed that San had his shop open, considering it wasn’t Thursday. As soon as he heard the thunder approaching, Yunho announced he’d leave briefly to the blue-haired man and rushed to the shop only to find San crouched on the floor. San didn’t protest when Yunho suggested holding him, he instead leaned in wrapping his arms around the taller.

The thunder is growing further away, but Yunho’s heart seems to be steadily beating fast. Yunho hopes that, together with thunder walking away, he has had some part in helping the small man in his arms.

And as if to prove he was relaxing, San started to speak. “Jongho told me he met you.”

“Yes, in the café,” Yunho shares. “He asked me if he could work in the shelter.”

“Yeah, it apparently is a mandatory thing to do in uni. To volunteer for some good cause,” San fiddles with the hem of Yunho’s shirt, and it tickles him, but he doesn’t hate the feeling. “I told him about your shelter and he was interested.”

“Hongjoong hyung was happy to hear that. We always need a hand in our shelter.”

“That’s good then,” San smiles, and Yunho is glad he is feeling better. “Did he say anything else?”

Yunho is reminded of the challenging look in Jongho’s eyes, his voice somehow accusatory of the misunderstanding. 

“He clarified his sexual orientation,” Yunho mumbles, small.

“Was he scary?”

“He was-,” Yunho pauses, giving it a thought. “Intimidating.”

San giggles at his comment, his vibration reverberating in Yunho’s chest, and for a moment he feels like his heart is resonating with it. And he likes that feeling.

“He could be brazen, but he’s a good boy,” San assures. “Please look after him.”

“I will,” Yunho promises.

The thunder was ringing miles away now, and Yunho could feel the end to this moment approaching. He already misses the warmth in his arms before it has even left, and maybe he draws the man closer a little more.

❀

“I like this boy already,” Hongjoong approves the boy who had just enrolled for the first day of his work. And Yunho couldn’t agree more. 

Jongho’s sturdy figure isn’t just for show. Yunho and Hongjoong can confirm that from the way the boy picks up a heavy bunch of containers. He also is quite good at dealing with a herd of excited dogs, not showing the slightest fatigue even after the entire day job.

Jongho is more than a little help.

“Hey, Jongho, that’s enough for today!” Hongjoong pats his back. “I’ll treat you with a good coffee for your good work.”

Hearing Jongho’s order, iced-coffee, Hongjoong goes out for a run with Cinnamon. Meanwhile, Yunho is scribbling the paperwork he has to finish while Jongho is idly flipping through some paper in a folder.

“I’m glad San told you about this place and that you’re interested,” Yunho mentions, giving a smile at the younger.

“I like dogs, and Sani hyung couldn’t stop complimenting you so I figured I could work in a decent place,” Jongho says it so casually, while squinting his eyes at the paper with some professional terminology he isn’t familiar with.

Yunho is glad because he guesses his blushing at what Jongho had just informed him, and he doesn’t want to look awkward. Not in front of San’s cousin.

It probably isn’t the smartest idea but he can’t help but to inquire for details. “He does?”

“Yeah, like how you are so kind and gentle, how you are caring and attentive,” Jongho blabbers like he is actually tired of hearing it. “Also how he feels safe in your arms.”

That catches Yunho off guard and he must have drawn the tail of number two a little longer than he should have. Yunho turns at Jongho who is by now looking at him directly, his lips played in a smirk.

“I- what?”

Jongho cackles a satisfied laugh. “I know hyung has a fear of thunder. The other day I asked him if he wanted me to come over when I can, and he declined. He was acting weird though, so I pestered him and he owned up that you were helping him out.”

He says the last part with a wiggle on his eyebrow and Yunho feels nervous. As to why, he doesn’t know exactly.

“Well, I kinda bumped into the situation and offered,” Yunho murmurs. “He would probably have asked you too if you were there.”

“Nope, he won’t,” Jongho disagrees with firmness. “He doesn’t like bothering people with his problems, even with me, and the fact that he lets you take care of him must mean that—”

Jongho trails off, and Yunho looks back at him. He is expecting to see some kind of smugness in his face, but what he sees instead is sincerity and softness.

“You’re special.”

Yunho inhales.

San is special to him. He isn’t sure if it’s because he looks like he popped out of one of fairy tales, or because he has such an unyielding name, or because he almost looks like the one blooming in the middle of bouquets, or because he has the ability of making Yunho at loss of words when he has never had a trouble with talking. He has never seen anyone with such glow in smile, vibrant in laughter, sparkling in the eyes, ethereally real. He hasn’t known San for that long, but he knows that much. 

He has never really brewed in mind what San thought of him. Jongho says he’s special. Yunho hopes he is.

❀

San calls almost every plant cute. While Yunho agrees with most flowers looking pretty, he sometimes is lost when he calls something that looks close to decayed fungi ‘cute’. He however has a clue to why Umbellata, the plant he brought back from San’s home, fits the adjective because it grows heart-shaped leaves. He pours ample amounts of water everyday just like San instructed him to, and so far the plant seems to be enjoying it’s stay with Yunho.

“I need your help, Yunho!” Mingi roars as he slams in the apartment. He looks mildly stressed but Yunho figures it’s not an emergency as he slumps on the couch carrying his head.

“For what?” he asks, putting down the empty jug on the dining table he just used it for watering.

“I have a date,” Mingi snaps his head up looking at Yunho. While the announcement sounds exciting, he looks like he is facing a crisis.

“Good for you?” Yunho gives a doubting tone as he sits himself to a chair next to the couch Mingi is occupying.

“The thing is, I don’t know what to do,” he sighs stressfully. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date with a girl, and now I don’t know how to impress someone.”

Yunho recalls the girl in his dance lesson he used to talk about. It all began with how they have a similar taste of music, how they clicked with each other, to how she is pretty even when she’s sweating. He used to worry about the right moment to ask her out on a date, and while Yunho is glad he had succeeded in that, now he is worrying about how to make it right.

Mingi flicks his eyes on a flower resting on the table before him. It’s a red flower, a hollyhock, and the meaning as Yunho recalls is ‘fruitfulness’. 

“Girls like flowers right? Will she be happy if I get her a bouquet?” Mingi asks, slightly desperate.

“That’s stereotypical, but most people like pretty things so I guess it’s worth trying.”

“Okay, cool. Then I’ll go to San’s before the date,” Mingi sighs in relief. “Holding her hand isn’t creepy right? What about kissing, maybe on her cheek?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Yunho shrugs.

Mingi groans. “You aren’t helping!”

Yunho can only shrug again. "You're asking the wrong person."

Because he is. 

Yunho is by no means a dating expert, for he had only dated two people; One girl and one boy. And in both cases, he wasn’t the one asking them out. They were both nice, and he found no particular reason to reject them so he accepted. He sure had pleasant moments dating them, but things never really got so far, at least for him, far enough to say he  _ loved _ them. And in both cases, the partner was the one who broke up with him in the end, not on bad terms, but maybe Mingi should reconsider getting advice from him. 

He has never felt stressed or worried because of infatuation like his dear flatmate is, he has never felt the thrumming of bliss in his heart while dating, and he has never felt the need to hold them back when they decided to leave. Apologetic maybe, from the colour of dejection painting their eyes as they said, ‘I’ve always felt like it’s one-sided’. 

He genuinely liked them when they were in a relationship. He did his best to make the other happy, what was expected of a boyfriend. Or so he believed. Nonetheless, he guesses he had never given them what they wanted—his feelings.

He has never given so much thought about love or relationships. Part of the reason could be what was supposedly the closest proof to love, his parents had divorced a few years after he was born—not that he didn’t receive parental love. Not that he blames them, because he is doing just fine without the notion of romantic love.

He has also never given a thought about his preference. He isn’t sure if he’s a hetero, bi or gay. When they asked him out, their gender was never an issue, so he guesses he could be bisexual.

But all in all, Yunho finds too many things clueless for him. He wishes, though, that Mingi's crush sprouts just as the flower before him—fruitful.

❀

Yunho is thankful for Jongho.

Not only does he work efficiently and is more than helpful, he allows Yunho to go off to San whenever heaven decides to hold a disco. He in fact  _ pushes _ him to. 

San has grown to leave his door unlocked when he gets a text from Yunho saying he's coming. Although Yunho thinks that is somewhat insecure, he doesn't want to trouble San to get the door and asking for a spare key is  _ definitely _ crossing the line. 

As he enters the dark apartment, he looks over the couch and when he doesn't find a cocoon of blanket there, he undoubtedly walks in San's bedroom. There he is. All curled on his bed. 

"San," Yunho's voice is soft, gently placing his hand on the blanket ball. 

The ball fidgets, and a fluff of blonde pops out before Yunho can see a weakened brown eyes looking at him expectantly. The sight drops his guard down instantly, igniting his need to protect this being, as it has always been the case. The smaller person looks far more small curling in a ball, wrapping himself with a soft blanket. A small hand timidly reaches out to Yunho's wrist, and that is enough to let Yunho know what he wants. He soon finds himself on bed, his arm lightly placed on the cocoon, until San grants him a share of the blanket. He naturally slips in, holding the shaking man in his arms. 

San is warm. The logical explanation would be that he had been wrapped in a blanket and while somewhere behind Yunho's brain he hears it, it's not what he focuses on. He's more entranced by the warmth that permeates through his skin without losing it's way to his heart. It's what he feels holding San. Warmth, like it's his home, and while he is supposedly the one trying to comfort the other, he feels safe, like he belongs here.

“Thank you, Yunho.”

His return home ends sooner than he expects, which seems to be the case all the time. The signal is when the loud noise diminishes to null, and he feels a pat on his chest together with a word of gratitude. Yunho feels this ‘thank you’ has always carried a sense of dejection. Or maybe it’s just the feeling of emptiness he feels in his arms. Or maybe both.

It has been a norm for San to pour him a coffee after, a caramel macchiato, a box of instant coffee secured in San’s kitchen just for Yunho. Yunho can’t ignore the small thrill he feels, having something in San’s home that relates to him. Resting on a couch in the living room, Yunho takes a sip. It doesn't roll on his taste bud as deliciously as a professional coffee prepared by the barista Yeosang, but it tastes special. 

“Are you feeling better?” Yunho asks San who is sipping on his hot chocolate next to him.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” he smiles, and there’s no more shaken blonde seen.

“I’m glad,” Yunho smiles back, brushing the blonde hair ever so softly.

San freezes, and Yunho quickly draws his hand back, wondering if he has done something wrong. 

“I’m sorry,” San murmurs. Yunho notices a pink colour creep on his cheeks. “I think I rely on you too much.”

“No, you aren’t,” he denies in a beat. “I’m more than happy to help, as long as you need me.”

With blush still residing on his cheeks, San smiles timidly. “Thank you,” he whispers against his mug, and this ‘thank you’ brings warmth to Yunho’s heart. And also because San looks endearing with his blossomed cheeks and knees to his chest that Yunho is so close to pulling him in his arms. This probably is wrong, but Yunho finds himself wishing for thunder to come back just for this moment, so that he can have an excuse to embrace San once again.

❀

It’s gold. It’s also pearl, cherry and rose.

San adorns a hair that changes its colour with the shade of light. It’s pretty, Yunho thinks, just like wings on fairies that glisten in colours that are out of the world—not that Yunho has seen it personally, but he imagines it so.

He succumbs to the urge of brushing it through with his fingers, fluffy in touch, of which San blinks in surprise but soon creases his eyes in a sheepish smile. It’s endearing in all sorts of ways, and Yunho wouldn’t mind watching it all day. Only if the curl of his peach lips doesn’t catch his attention more so than his eyes, but it does. They look soft and luscious, and it seems like Yunho has forgotten his rationality somewhere in the gutter because he can’t resist his instincts. Primitive, almost, because he gives in to the gravity that pulls him down. Yunho can’t exactly pinpoint what San’s lips taste like, something like soap and cotton, if that even makes sense, but they are soft and pliable at touch, and his heart blooms with happiness nonetheless at the mere contact. Surprisingly, San doesn’t push him away, and instead holds his shirt, timidly but affirmatively. Having the encouragement, Yunho indulges further. Because he hasn’t had enough. He can never get enough of San, he is sure.

But he is suffocating. He suddenly feels difficulty in breathing, and no matter how much he tries to draw in air through his nose whilst kissing, he can’t.

He pulls away and gasps for air, as he sits up on bed. 

“Morning, sunshine!”

Yunho hears a low voice that definitely doesn’t belong to San. He turns his head and he recognises his room, and San isn’t there but his damned flatmate is. And the said man is holding a pillow in his hand.

“Did you just try to kill me?” Connecting the dots, Yunho growls in a low voice, partially because he just woke up but mostly because he is about to throw hands at Mingi.

“You wouldn’t wake up, so I instead decided to wake your surviving instinct,” Mingi shrugs, wiggling the pillow in his hand.

Yunho breathes out deeply as reality starts to sink in. The rage only builds with Mingi now wiggling his eyebrow.

“I owe you,” Yunho says. “I can only return by doing the same.”

He grabs the pillow he was just sleeping on and throws it at Mingi, who scrambles out the door in a blink. The pillow smacks the door because Mingi has winged heels, and perhaps that counts as a surviving instinct. The man with awakened surviving instinct pops his head through the door again to remind Yunho.

“I woke you up because you said you were going to go get your mum. Thank me later!”

Right. Yunho remembers now. 

His mother called him the other day to inform she’ll be back from her trip today, and he promised her he’ll go pick her up at the station. Pick her up, but the only transport he owns is a bicycle, so it’s more like helping her out with her luggages while riding a taxi to her home.

He recalls he had set an alarm, but he must have shut it off in his sleep. Nonetheless, he doesn’t have much time to ponder, so he gets out of his bed to his closet.

Not until the bus ride does Yunho remember his dream. He gasps rather loudly at the image of him kissing San. Gladly, the monday noon bus is nearly empty. Physical touching within friends is a common thing and Yunho doesn’t mind, although he finds someone else initiating more so than himself. Especially Wooyoung, who likes clinging on to people, occasionally sneaking up and kissing people’s cheeks playfully. Never has Yunho kissed his friend though, and certainly never even thought of kissing on their  _ lips. _ He wonders if he has grown a new way of showing appreciation to his friends, to the level of dreaming to kiss them. Mingi’s earlier grinning face flashes in his head, and he tries to  _ imagine. _ Yunho feels something surging from his empty stomach and he has to cover his mouth as a safety precaution. He doesn’t want to kiss Mingi. He’d rather kiss a statue. 

It’s just a weird random dream. That’s what dreams are anyway. Weird and random. 

But it’s also true that Yunho spends his entire ride thinking about what San’s lips would taste like. Definitely not soapy and fabric-y.

❀

His mother looks like how Yunho had remembered from four months ago. Maybe a little tanned from the sun of Bali, but she had always looked the same, young and lively. He tells her as much, and she giggles in joy, slapping Yunho’s arm playfully. 

“How was Bali?” Yunho asks, taking charge of her suitcase down the stairs.

“Great! I’ve sent you pictures of the beach right? It was beautiful.” 

The town he has grown up in only offers rivers and ponds as water bodies. Yunho has had a chance to see the oceans and beaches, but he is familiar to them more through screens. They were always aquamarine and emerald blue, reflecting all the sunlight they could gather to themselves. And yes, just like that, the beach in Bali was beautiful.

The taxi comes around rather quickly and the conversation in the car is taken over by his mother, filling her son with her adventure which Yunho is happy to listen to. Ever since the divorce, his mother had been the one looking after him. His father did pay for his tuition and did pay him an occasional visit, but it's not the same as having to be responsible for a child. Yunho thinks he has grown through her blood, sweat and tears, and he can't begin to imagine how outstanding it is to let him go to the university even. Yunho should have chosen to work in a well paid job instead of working in a shelter that barely manages on its budget, if he wanted to pay what he owes her. 

Once when he had told her so, she laughed it off.

"You don't  _ owe _ me anything, my boy.  _ I _ chose to have  _ you, _ and it's only my responsibility to look after you. If you do owe me anything, it is to live healthily and happily. That's how you pay me."

The basic idea is that a child cannot choose their parents, but even if Yunho could, he would choose to be her son.

And just like how she mentioned, she had proven herself to be more than capable, being a successful business person, earning enough money to keep her exploring the world she hadn't seen. Yunho is glad he wasn't tying her back any more, and that she had found her joy in travelling, just like how his father had found a new family. Those are where their happiness belongs now, and that is how Yunho learned that happiness is never one dimensional. 

One of the many things he has learned from his mother is that happiness doesn’t necessarily rely on romantic love. Although society is keen on promoting them as the epitome of successful life, labeling people as misfit when they don’t adapt to the concept, when he sees his mother beaming brightly without meeting such society’s criterion, he witnesses the truth. That happiness comes in every shape and colour, and no one can determine one for you. 

“Did you get the wedding invitation from Jiyoon?” his mother asks him while placing a straw hat on Yunho’s head, the one she was wearing saying that it was a gift from Bali.

“Yes, I did.”

Yunho is reminded of the white wedding invitation he had received a week ago, from his childhood friend. Also one of the two he had dated. 

Yunho had met Seo Jiyoon in primary school. They ended up going to the same high school, obviously because they didn’t have a lot of options anyways. Oddly, they found themselves sharing the same classes most of the time, their mothers seeing each other frequently befriending themselves, and as they started spending more time together, only naturally, they have grown to like each other's company. 

Jiyoon asked Yunho out on their sixteenth summer. It wasn’t anything serious at first, Yunho thinks. It started from how she found Yunho the most comfortable male to be around with, and with their mothers teasing about their marriage like the cliche conversation motherly figure would have, she probably thought that wasn’t a really bad idea. Yunho answered with a ‘yes’ without much thought. She was no doubt the most comfortable female to be around with, and she was cheerful, lively and cute. There was no reason for him to turn her down. 

The imbalance emerged when they started spending more time with just the two of them, stepping into the closer relationship shared by couples. She wanted more and Yunho couldn’t give. It was never enough. 

She broke up with him in the eighteenth winter. Among graduating friends and classmates bidding farewell, they bid their farewell as a lover. Yunho remembers a girl in a school uniform within the white snowscape, huffing a white puff out of her mouth as a tear ran down her cheek under a snowfall. He instinctively thought of wiping it away, but he didn’t dare move, knowing he had lost the right to do so. And that was the last time he saw her before she left for the university in Seoul.

“I can’t believe my baby Jiyoon is getting married!” his mother exclaims excitedly. 

And now after seven winters from then, she is getting married with someone who deserves her, more so than Yunho. He smiles at his mother as a response, hoping that there will be no more of the girl in tears under the snow.

❀

The late Saturday afternoon is met with the thunders in heaven.

Among the howling of the dogs trying to win over the raging sky, the confinement of being in a building which in other words means arduous paperwork, Yunho finds the rain comforting than before. Towards the end of the rainy season, he seems to have made a truce with it, and feels the lightness even. But maybe not today.

“Hyung, you can leave, I'm back.”

Jongho comes in, back from a walk with Pepper and Cinnamon. The rain is quite unexpected, and Jongho has been drizzled upon whilst his last minute dash. How he flips his red hair to dry himself quite resembles the way Pepper does. Yunho grabs two towels and tosses it to the boy.

“No, I don't have to. San told me his friend from Seoul is staying with him over the weekend,” Yunho answers.

Catching them easily, Jongho blinks. "A friend?" He ponders for a minute before he mutters, "Seonghwa hyung."

Yunho probably shouldn't be too inquisitive and meddle with every one of San's actions, but he asks anyway. It's about San after all.

"Seonghwa hyung?"

Jongho ruffles the towel over Pepper even before he does so himself. The dog is happily getting the treatment with his trademark squint on his eyes.

"They used to share an apartment in Seoul," Jongho says. "He is basically the reason why he moved here." He murmurs unconsciously, but it reaches Yunho's ears nonetheless.

Noticing Yunho's inquisitive stare, Jongho clears his throat before he explains. "Because Seonghwa hyung got married recently. So of course they both had to move out."

It explains why San had to find a new place to stay, but it doesn't explain why he had to move out of Seoul. Yunho asks, but Jongho doesn't answer immediately. He proceeds with drying himself and the towel on his head is concealing his intent. 

"It's only my speculation, but I'm guessing he was upset with the marriage."

The thunder grows louder and Yunho sees a small figure shaking in the dark. 

❀

Hearing that his friend came over, Yunho didn’t expect to see the shop open the next day. More so, he certainly didn’t expect to see an unfamiliar brunette standing in the shop, wearing a moss green apron. 

Yunho stumbles at the entrance, while Pepper looks puzzled to see a strange face here.

“Hi,” Yunho greets.

“Hey, um, are you looking for a flower?” the brunette man asks awkwardly. Even though he appears to be fit for the flower shop with the apron on, he doesn’t exactly sound smooth while asking that question.

“Actually, I was looking for San?”

He mumbles an ‘oh’, and studies Yunho, glances at Pepper before he comes back to Yunho’s eyes and smiles friendlily. “Are you Yunho?”

The handsome brunette with a sharp jawline doesn’t look familiar in Yunho’s eyes, but he nods anyway.

He beams a shade brighter. “Sani told me about you! Ah, yes, you are handsome and tall. And like he said, you look very nice.”

Yunho flushes in an instant, not so used to hearing someone compliment him right at his face, and to hear that those words were from  _ San. _ Yes, Jongho has kindly informed him before, but it still flusters him.

“Sorry, how rude of me to not introduce myself,” the brunette furrows his brows. “I’m Park Seonghwa, San’s friend.” 

_ Seonghwa hyung. _

Jongho’s voice rings in Yunho’s ears. San’s friend from Seoul. The one who San used to share his apartment with. The one he spent yesterday’s thunder with.

“He forgot his phone, so he pushed me to do the shopkeeper while he go grabs it. I don’t think this is how you treat a friend who came all the way here, seeing after months at that,” Seonghwa bickers, but the chuckle he gives along is affable.

“I’m Jeong Yunho. San’s friend, and I work in a dog shelter,” Yunho tells him. 

“Yes, I’ve heard lots from San! I believe you are quite a close friend, with how you take care of him during thunder,” Seonghwa smiles. He’s handsome and sharp, and Yunho sees no resemblance within themselves. He brushes his nape with his left hand, and Yunho notices a silver on his ring finger. “I was worried, actually. When we used to live together, I could look after him, but now that I can’t, I was worried about him.”

_ You’re special. _

Jongho had once said. Because San lets Yunho help him with his fear. It comes easy to him, the vision in the dark of how a lump is formed in the middle of the bed, that is shaking slightly, that you notice only when you step closer. With a pat on it, blonde hair creeps out, then the timid eyes that trap Yunho, and a small shaky expectant hand that reaches out to him. 

“I’m glad he has you now,” Seonghwa says with a genuine smile.

The hand reaches out, and tugs on the other nervously. The figure complies and slips in the bed with him, coddling him, holding him close. San is easing in the touch, and he is no more shaking. 

Yunho is seeing it all from afar. 

As the blonde mixes with the brunette.

❀

There's a squeeze at his chest when it comes to this. Always. 

He sees Molly, one of the dogs that came by their own name and avoided any spicy touch, step out in the broad daylight, her leash held by someone that was not Yunho or Hongjoong. 

She looks happy enough, Yunho's been with her for a good ten months to figure out that much. It's always a happy thing, to find a home for the dogs out of the shelter, since the shelter isn't what should be called their home. 

But to Yunho, it is almost like sending off his own daughter to wed, away from home. He had looked after each one of the dogs closely, diligently, lovingly, and he can’t really lie that in between the happiness he feels, there’s sadness instilled in it when he sees them leave. He knows he’s not the only one, from how Hongjoong is visibly watering his eyes looking at Molly growing smaller. 

‘Home’ is quite a vague term, Yunho thinks. Perhaps Molly will miss them and miss this place, having associated with it for long. Yunho also thinks he could probably call the shelter his home in a sense. He knows the place for years, a year-older Hongjoong acts like a big brother to him (although he’s physically small), and Hongjoong’s parents treat him like a good son. Sometimes he babies him too much, feeding him more when they invite him over for lunch or dinner, and he could see Honjoong sulking in the corner of his eyes. 

He also has his mother, who will forever be his home, and an apartment he shares with Mingi, although he wouldn’t admit, Mingi’s whining and bickering has been part of his comfort by now.

Home is cozy, home is warm, home is safe. He feels the same way when he holds San. he doesn’t know what it is—maybe it’s the way his frame perfectly fits in Yunho’s, maybe it’s San’s soft flowery scent that soothes him, maybe it’s San’s body temperature a degree lower than his that draws him closer. Yunho wants to call it home. 

He wonders what San would call a home. He wonders how he used to live in Seoul, and how he fits in this town. He wonders about his family and friends. 

The ‘home’ he only knows is the dark room in the Mangyang street. There’s a small figure trembling with the raging sky outside. He sees someone reach out to him. He  _ sees, _ from five steps away. It’s a taller brunette, and the smaller figure jumps in his arms as the brunette cradles him softly.

Five steps away, but he feels he’s eternity away, carrying a stinging heart.

Maybe that was his home. And maybe it still is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of hits are _very_ motivational lmao  
> but anyway, for those of you who have given this fic a chance, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed! ♥


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